Margaret Beckett: The European Union Agriculture and Fisheries Council will meet in Brussels from 20 to 22 December 2005.
	I will chair for the agriculture items and my hon. Friend, the Member for Exeter, (Mr. Bradshaw) will chair for fisheries issues. My hon. Friend, the Member for Dorset South, (Jim Knight) will be in the UK seat.
	The Council is expected to adopt conclusions on the Commission's communication for simplification and better regulation of the Common Agriculture Policy.
	We also hope to reach political agreement on Community measures for the control of avian influenza and related expenditure under the veterinary fund.
	We expect the Council to adopt the first stage of the European Community and United States agreement on trade in wine.
	At the request of Germany, the Council will discuss the implementation of cross compliance rules under the CAP single payment scheme.
	The Council will vote on a proposal to authorise the use of genetically modified maize variety 1507.
	The main fisheries item is the annual negotiation on total allowable catches and fishing quotas for next year, where we hope to reach political agreement. We also hope to secure agreement on total allowable catches and quotas in the Baltic and recovery measures for sole stocks in the Bay of Biscay.
	Under any other business, the Fisheries Commissioner will update the Council on proposals for restructuring the fisheries sector and on the EU action plan on simplification of the Common Fisheries Policy. The Agriculture Commissioner will update the Council on the outcome of the WTO negotiations in Hong Kong. Demark will raise the issue of export refunds for live bovine animals. Italy will draw the Commission's attention to the situation in the poultrymeat market, following the recent avian influenza outbreak in Europe. The Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection will update the Council on that outbreak and outline proposals for an EU action plan on the protection and welfare of animals. Spain will draw attention to repeated outbreaks of the animal disease, blue tongue, arising from North Africa and request resources to control its spread.

Rosie Winterton: The Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council met on 8–9 December. The Secretary of State for Health chaired the meeting and I represented the United Kingdom. Items on the agenda relating to health were covered on 9 December. Items for discussion were: human health aspects of pandemic flu; proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on medicinal products for paediatric use; and the European Commission's Green Paper: "Improving the mental health of the population, Towards a strategy on mental health for the European Union".
	The policy discussion on the human health aspects of pandemic flu focused on areas of EU co-operation to complement existing work on this topic. Member States acknowledged that the first and most vital step was the completion of national contingency plans. On the issue of risk communication with the public, Council agreed that, while this was primarily a Member State responsibility, there was a need for clear co-ordination between Member States, the Commission and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to avoid confusing messages. The Commission reported the experiences of the common ground simulation exercise on pandemic flu.
	The Council also discussed the issue of increasing production capacity for both antiviral drugs and vaccines. On vaccines, Council stressed the importance of increasing the research effort into the development of new vaccines. On antivirals, Ministers agreed that building up production capacity was primarily for Member States, but outlined that further consideration should be given to the available options for dealing with a pandemic influenza outbreak including the feasibility and added value of the EU holding a targeted strategic stockpile of anti-viral drugs.
	The Presidency issued Conclusions on the human health aspects of pandemic flu.
	There was a qualified majority in favour of a political agreement to the proposed regulation on paediatric medicines.
	The Council gave a supportive steer to the Commission on its recent Green Paper on improving mental health.
	Ministers took note of Presidency information on: Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a Programme of Community action in the field of Public Health and Consumer Protection; Health inequalities and patient safety; and Council Public Health Working Party meeting at senior level.
	Member States also took note of information from the Commission on: A coordinated approach to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the European Union and the neighbouring countries; Commission High Level Group on Health Services and Medical Care; Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; and International Health Regulations.
	Ministers also had an informal discussion on promoting healthy diets and physical activity.

Hazel Blears: I am announcing today statistics relating to Antisocial Behaviour Orders (ASBOs).
	An ASBO is a civil order which protects the community from behaviour that has caused or is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as the perpetrator.
	ASBOs were introduced under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and have been available since April 1999.
	ASBOs can be issued to anyone aged 10 years or over. They impose restrictions on the behaviour of individuals who have behaved in an anti-social way and protect communities from often long-standing and highly intimidating activity.
	Breach of an ASBO is a criminal offence and can lead to custody. The maximum penalty for breach of an ASBO is five years imprisonment or a fine of up to £5,000 for an adult offender.
	The Home Office is notified by all courts of ASBOs issued. As I indicated in my statement on 3 November, Official Report, columns 52–53 WS, a joint exercise between the Court Service and the Home Office is under way to refine and improve further the collection of these data.
	Data on the number of ASBOs issued are updated quarterly. New figures for the period up to June 2005 are now available. These figures show that for the period between April 1999 and June 2005 the total number of ASBOs issued (as reported to the Home Office) was 6,497. The number of ASBOs issued in the quarter April to June 2005 is 14 per cent. of the total number of ASBOs issued over all quarters and represents an increase of 48 per cent. on the same quarter last year. However, this represents an increase of 1 per cent. on last quarter's figures so the rate of increase is slowing.
	Of those ASBOs issued, 54 per cent. were to adults and 43 per cent. to juveniles (3 per cent. of ASBOs are age unknown).
	Some 47 per cent. were orders on application and 53 per cent. were orders on conviction.
	I have placed with the Libraries of both Houses a briefing note containing information about ASBOs and the ASBOs statistics issued today.

Fiona Mactaggart: The National Probation Service has today published its Annual Report for 2004–05. The Prison Service and the Office for Contracted Prisons published their Annual Reports and Financial Accounts for 2004–05 on 19 July. Copies of all the Annual Reports have been placed in the Library.
	Performance against all the National Offender Management Targets for 2004–05 is indicated in the table below. A full breakdown of the performance of both public and contracted prison establishments, in relation to applicable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), will be placed in the Library. The breakdown includes updated figures for those establishments managed by the Office of Contracted Prisons.
	
		Performance Against the National Offender Management Targets for 2004–05 -- Public Protection Targets
		
			 KPI ANNUALTarget OUTTURN 
		
		
			 Category A Escapes 0 0 
			 Total Escapes from Prisons and Prison Escorts Less than 0.05% 0.03 
			 Escapes from Contracted Escorts (NOMS) 1:20,000 1:38,894 
			 REDUCING RE-OFFENDING TARGETS 
			 Education Awards 
			 Basic Skills starts 32,000 34,199 
			 (Probation Service) 
			 Basic skills awards achieved 8,000 9,451 
			 Education Awards (Prisons) 
			 Basic skills awards achieved 56,080 63,628 
			  
			 Key Work Skillsawards achieved 120,000 170.558 
			 Drug Treatment and Testing Orders 13,000 10,322 
			 Of which lower intensity orders 1,000 329 
			 Drug Treatment and Testing Order successful completions 35% 36% 
			 Intensive Control and Change Programmes started 1,790 841 
			 Intensive Control and Change Programmes completed 1,100 125 
			 Enhanced CommunityPunishment completions 30,000 38,473 
			 Offending BehaviourProgrammes completions(Probation Service) 15,000 15,595 
			 Offending BehaviourProgrammes (Prisons) 7,000 8,364 
			 Of which Sex Offender Treatment programmes 1,180 1,232 
			 Of which Living Skills Programmes 5,820 7.132 
			 Drug Treatment Programmes Completions (prisons) 3,900 4,902 
			 Employment, Training and Education (ETE) place on release 38,000 41,146 
			 Breach proceedings initiated within 10 days 90% 87% 
			 Proportion of orders and licences in which the offender complies 70% 79% 
			 JUSTICE AND REPARATION TARGETS 
			 Timely Arrival at Court (NOMS) 75% . 79% 
			 Pre-Sentence Reports to the Magistrates courts within 15 days 90% 73% 
			 Victim Contact 85% 93% 
			 DECENCY TARGETS 
			 Mandatory Drug Tests Less than 10% 11.8% 
			 Self-inflicted Deaths Less than112.8 per100,000 113.7 per100,000 
			 Serious Assault Less than1.56% 1.56% 
			 Overcrowding (publicprisons) Less than 24% 23.7% 
			 Overcrowding (contractedprisons) Less than34.5% 26.1% 
			 KPI ANNUALTarget OUTTURN 
			 ORGANISATIONAL TARGETS 
			 Staff Sickness (publicprisons only) Less than 12.5 days/person 12.7 
			 Staff Sickness (ProbationService) Less than 9 days/person 12.3 
			 Ethnic Minority Staff (public prisons only) At least 6% 5.7% 
			 Regionally setemployment targets for Ethnic Minority Staff 8.4% 10.91(Apr-Dec2004) 
			 Clear proposals in court reports for minority ethnic offenders 95% 97%